Queen as King, by Therese Martin

Queen as King, by Therese Martin, traces the origins of San Isidoro in León as a royal monastic complex, following its progress as the site changed from a small eleventh-century palatine chapel housed in a double monastery to a great twelfth-century pilgrimage church served by Augustinian canons. Its most groundbreaking contribution to the history of art is the recovery of the lost patronage of Queen Urraca (reigned 1109-1126). Urraca maintained yet subverted her family’s tradition of patronage on the site: to understand her history is to hold the key to the art and architecture of San Isidoro. This new approach to San Isidoro and its patronage allows a major Romanesque monument to be understood more fully than before.

Therese Martin, Ph.D. (2000) in History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh, was John Williams’ last doctoral student. She is Assistant Professor of Medieval Art History at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on royal architecture and female patronage in medieval Spain.